Purdue, Jackson Lab combine genetics, engineering

May 20, 2013

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University and The Jackson
Laboratory have created a new bioengineering facility and will hold a joint
symposium to discuss the latest research in areas from implantable medical
devices to the genetics behind human diseases.

The First Purdue-Jackson Laboratory Symposium will be May
29-31 at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.

The two institutions last fall established a new
laboratory, the Bioengineering Lab at JAX, and have several collaborations,
including research related to prosthetics and glaucoma.

"Jackson Lab has the expertise in genetics and we
provide the engineering expertise," said Pedro Irazoqui, director of
Purdue's Center for Implantable Devices and an associate professor of
biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering. "The new
bioengineering lab provides all the tools visiting engineers would need to do
their work."

The symposium taps into this spirit of collaboration, said
Irazoqui, who led efforts to establish the lab, working with Jackson Lab
researchers Simon John, Robert Burgess, Wayne Frankel, Greg Cox, Da-Ting Lin
and Robert Braun.

"What's unusual is that you have two institutions in
two different states with two different areas of expertise - engineers
collaborating with geneticists," Irazoqui said. "The objective of the
symposium is to improve health care by teaming up engineering faculty with top
genetics researchers at Jackson Laboratory."

The symposium will include presentations on
"translational research."

"By translational research, we mean technologies that
can be moved from the academic world to the industrial world, from a research
lab to a clinical setting, or bench-top to bedside," said Irazoqui (pronounced
Ear-Ah-Tho-Kee). "One goal of this meeting is to increase our clinical
impact by establishing new partnerships, and deepening existing
collaborations."

The symposium features talks on subjects including
implantable devices that show promise in applications such as prosthetics and
treating epilepsy and glaucoma; biomedical imaging technologies; neuro
prosthesis and nerve repair; new biomaterials for tissue repair; genetic
diseases including muscular dystrophies and premature aging; processes that allow
stem cells to "self-renew"; the ability of mammalian cells to repair
damaged DNA; physiology of the human ear; and neural circuits in brain
disorders.